


Traitor

by SmilingNerdyCat



Category: Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Genre: Angst, F/M, Mildred Defense, This fic is a goddamn mess., idk how to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:55:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25286443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmilingNerdyCat/pseuds/SmilingNerdyCat
Summary: Her husband has betrayed her and her country and condemned them both. What can she do?Pages 61-65 from Mildred’s POV
Relationships: Mildred Montag/Guy Montag
Kudos: 4





	Traitor

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, there! I was going through my old school stuff and I found this. I don’t hate it, so I decided to post it here. I always feel like Mildred gets treated really unfairly both by Montag in the book and in discussions of it, so I’ve tried to be more sympathetic to her here. 
> 
> Hope you like melodrama

There’s a traitor sitting next to me, on my couch. The aunts and uncles chatter on about something or other, but I can’t focus on them. I can still feel it in my hands—a book in my own two hands. I never thought I’d—The chatter gets louder and louder and closer and closer and–oh, it’s Guy. Not Guy? Not Guy, a traitor. He has the audacity to talk to me about something other than what he knows I’ve just touched. He feels jumpy and wants to skip work. I recommend he go out for a drive—seem normal. Natural. Orderly. Obedient. He goes on about his feelings.  _ His feelings.  _ I guess we’re not going to talk about it—oh, there it is again.  _ This can’t really be him;  _ Guy doesn’t do things like this—skip work and read books and contemplate his dearth of happiness. 

  
“...And yet I kept sitting there saying to myself, I’m not happy, I’m not happy.”

“ _I_ am. And proud of it.” He ignores me. Again. That’s not new for us; he was always more concerned with himself and his thoughts. I turn away from him. I look away. Finally, finally, finally, he gets to the point, and shows them to me. He has even more books in the house. _In_ _my house._ There are books in my house. _Books in my house._ Books _._ More books. More _books._ I let out a strangled sound and dart for the pile. I nearly make it to the kitchen before he grabs me. He slaps me. It’s louder than it should have been, mixed with my tears. He’s gone mad, he’s gone mad, he’s gon—

  
“Mrs. Montag, Mrs. Montag, someone here, someone here, Mrs. Montag, Mrs. Montag, someone here.”

  
Beatty’s returned. Montag can’t really expect him to believe that we’ve suddenly gone out in the few minutes since he left. He wants to lie to a  _ fireman _ . He wants to lie to everyone. And he wants me to join him. To help him betray everyone I know. What’s happened to him? What’s happening? Beatty’s still out there. The car is just sitting there, waiting. Waiting for us. 

  
“He’ll come in and burn us and the books!”

  
Montag is silent. Everything is silent. The doorbell’s voice fades. The parlor walls are turned off. All I can hear is breathing. His breathing. He’s coming in, and we’ll be dead. We’ll be worse than dead. He’s gonna—

  
Montag starts reading, of all things. It’s gibberish. Complete and utter gibberish. He’s damned us for a pile of gibberish. 

  
“What does it mean? It doesn’t mean  _ anything! _ ” 

**Author's Note:**

> That was...something. The dialogue is directly from the book.
> 
> Hope you liked it and have a lovely day <3


End file.
